LinguaThe letters you know, read the French way
French is written with the same 26 Latin letters as English, so the shapes are not new. What changes is the NAME of each letter and, above all, its SOUND: French reads by rules, and once you know them you can pronounce a word you have never seen. Today: the first six letters, A to F, and the vowel e, which comes in three forms: e, é, è. The little marks are called accents. They are not decoration, they are part of the spelling, and each one changes the sound.
| Vowel | How it sounds | In a word |
|---|---|---|
| a | the open a of “father”, never the “ay” of the English letter name | café |
| e | a short, neutral “uh” with rounded lips, as in “the” | de |
| i | always “ee” as in “see”, never “eye” | ami |
| o | like the o of “more” | école |
| u | round your lips as for “oo” and say “ee”: a sound English does not have | une |
Its French name is « a », said like the a of “father”. Capital: the left leg from the bottom up, the right leg down, then the bar. Small a: the round part first, then the line down its right side.
« bé ». Capital: the post down first, then two bellies, the upper one smaller. Small b: a tall post, then one belly on the right, starting from the middle of the post.
« cé ». One stroke: start at the top right, swing left and down, come back up on the right. Before a, o and u it sounds like k: café.
« dé », the same word as a dice. Capital: post, then one big belly. Small d: the tall post on the RIGHT first, then the round part on its left: the mirror image of b.
Its name is « e », said with rounded lips: the vowel of « le ». Capital E: the post, then three bars from top to bottom. Small e: the little bar first, then curl up, left and round to the bottom right.
« effe ». Capital F is an E without its foot: post, top bar, middle bar. Small f: a tall hook drawn from the top down, then the little bar across it.
The same e with an accent. The accent aigu on é rises from bottom left to top right and CLOSES the sound: the é of café. The accent grave on è falls from top left to bottom right and OPENS it: the è of élève. Write the letter first, then the accent, like the dot on an i.
| Letter | French name | How it sounds | In a word |
|---|---|---|---|
| A a | a | the a of “father” | ami |
| B b | bé | the b of “baby” | bébé |
| C c | cé | k before a, o, u | café |
| D d | dé | the d of “day” | dé |
| E e | e | a neutral “uh”, or silent at the end of a word | de |
| F f | effe | the f of “fee” | fête |
| Form | Accent mark | Sound | Words |
|---|---|---|---|
| e | none | weak “uh”, or silent at the end | le, de |
| é | accent aigu, rising to the right | closed, like the “ay” of “day” cut short | café, bébé |
| è | accent grave, falling to the right | open, like the e of “bed” | élève, très |
un bon caféa good coffee
Léa et FabienLéa and Fabien
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ami | friend | Léa a un ami. Léa has a friend. |
| bébé | baby | Le bébé de Fabien. Fabien’s baby. |
| café | coffee; café | Un café, madame. A coffee, madam. |
| dé | dice | Le bébé a un dé. The baby has a dice. |
| école | school | L’école de Léa. Léa’s school. |
| fête | party, celebration | La fête de Fabien. Fabien’s party. |
| fée | fairy | La fée aide le bébé. The fairy helps the baby. |
| idée | idea | Bonne idée ! Good idea! |
| aide | help | À l’aide ! Help! |
| élève | pupil, student (at school) | Un bon élève. A good pupil. |
Exercises
This lesson has 10 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 3
- trace the letter: 3
- fill the gap: 2
- match the pairs: 1
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
One of these words ends in the CLOSED sound written with an accent aigu, the sound at the end of « café ». Which one?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.